Disclaimer: If I owned anything, do you think I would be writing fanfiction?

Oh, wow, I'm updating!! Is this a miracle or what? Wait, you're asking me why it took so freaking long? [cowers in fear] The webcomics, blame it on the webcomics!!! Anywho, thanks to everyone who reviewed, and a special thanks to BobbyD12 for telling me whether this chapter works or not. Mostly not. Yes, fans, this chapter is confusing. But, I updated, didn't I? Don't hurt me!!

Kerri stood nervously in front of her new school. It looked like a perfectly normal school, nothing unusual. But she was still reluctant to go inside.

'Why can't I seem to remember why I wanted to do this?'

She took a deep breath and opened the door. It was just another normal, everyday school.

It wasn't that Kerri hated school or anything. In fact she was pretty good in all her classes. But for some reason, she felt that entering the school had some sort of ominous feeling.

She sighed and walked inside. Glancing at a sheet of paper in her hand, she nervously moved over to where her first class was supposed to be. Kerri knocked on the door, and walked in.

"Hello, Kerri," a woman said from behind a desk in the front of the room, "You're early."

She was right. The room was almost empty. Just the teacher, herself, and a boy in the back of the classroom, who was watching her.

"Sorry," Kerri said shyly.

"That's alright. I'm Mrs. Miles," the teacher said, then looked thoughtful, "You're going to want someone to show you around the school. Am I right?"

"I guess so," Kerri shrugged.

Mrs. Miles looked at the boy in the back of the room, "John, would you come here, please?"

The boy, John, shrugged, and walked up to them. He was shorter than Kerri.

"Would you mind showing Kerri around the school?" Mrs. Miles asked.

John shrugged again.

"You have a while before class starts. Why don't you go now?"

John walked out of the room. Kerri supposed she should follow him. She hurried to catch up. For a short kid he sure walked fast.

"Hey," Kerri called, "Wait up!!"

He didn't respond, or slow down.

"Jeez," Kerri said, mostly to herself, as she caught up to him, "You walk fast."

John shrugged.

"Um, so…" Kerri started, "You're John, right?"

"Like it matters."

Kerri was slightly surprised. It was the first thing she had heard him say.

She shrugged, "Right. Now you're supposed to be showing me around. Where the heck are we?"

"Hallway."

"I can see that," she said, internally sighing, "How come you're here so early?"

John shrugged.

"So much for conversation," Kerri muttered.

"What?" John looked at her suspiciously.

"Nothing. Where are we going now?"

"Library," John said.

"Why? Do you like to read?" Kerri asked.

"No," John said, "It's just the best place to hide when some crazy kid and his cronies are out to get you."

Uhhh…

"Thanks for sharing your hideaway, I suppose," Kerri said.

John shrugged, "You shouldn't have any problem with them."

"Me? Why not?"

"You're pretty," John said bluntly, "They date pretty girls instead of hitting them."

'Talk about being subtle' Kerri thought, blushing.

"Thanks," Kerri said, "I think."

John shrugged.

After John showed Kerri a few of her classrooms, they headed back to Mrs. Miles's room. Kerri learned that Mrs. Miles taught English. By lunchtime, she had had Algebra, Science, History, and Home Ec along with English. And John had been in all of her classes.

After getting her food, she looked around at the lunchroom. John, being the only person she knew, she looked for first. She spotted him sitting alone in the corner. As she headed in his direction, someone called:

"Hey, you! New girl!!"

New girl?

Kerri looked towards the voice. She saw a blond girl waving at her.

"Over here!"

Kerri walked up to her, "It's Kerri."

"Huh?" the girl said, not very brightly.

"My name. It's Kerri."

"Oh. I'm Michelle."

Figures.

"Want to sit here?" Michelle asked.

"I— I guess…" Kerri said.

As Kerri sat down, Michelle said, "I hear you've been hanging around that John kid."

That John kid? I guess he's not very popular.

"Uhh…" Kerri said stupidly.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you," Michelle said seriously.

"Do what?" Kerri said, again stupidly.

"Talk to him."

"Oh," Kerri said, "Why?"

"He's weird," Michelle said, shrugging.

"Weird?" Kerri asked, "Besides being kinda antisocial?"

Antisocial being an understatement.

"Yeah. He attracts violence," Michelle explained.

What? That little short kid? Violent? Ha!

"Stupid sarcastic person living in my head," Kerri muttered.

"What?" Michelle asked, confused.

"Whoops. I mean, what do you mean 'violence?'" Kerri asked.

"Bullies. Specifically," Michelle pointed, "Those bullies."

The group she pointed to consisted of a bunch of guys.

Immature, too, I bet.

'Shuttup," Kerri thought, then said, aloud, "Why does everyone hate him so much?"

Michelle shrugged, "'Cause he weird?"

Kerri stood up, "I'm gonna go talk to him."

"What!?"

Kerri began walking towards where John was sitting alone. Michelle followed her, looking nervous for a reason Kerri couldn't comprehend.

Maybe he's an axe murderer.

'Shut up, shut up, shut up!' Kerri thought, and sat down next to John.

He didn't look up until she said 'Hey', and then he nearly fell off his chair.

John gave her a look that said, plainly, 'What are you doing here?'

"I'm seeing if the rumors are true," Kerri slapped a hand over her mouth, "I mean, uhhh…"

John blinked, and said, simultaneously with Michelle, "What?"

"That wasn't me!! I mean, I didn't mean to say that," Kerri said, "I was going to keep you company. You looked… lonely."

John opened his mouth to respond, when someone shouted, "Michelle! Hey!"

Michelle looked up, "Huh?"

"Hey, come see… Sam caught something weird…" a girl said.

"Again?" Michelle sighed, "Little brother. Gotta go."

She left quickly, followed by the other girl.

"Um," Kerri said, "Do you mind me sitting here?"

"It's a free country."

Kerri played around with her salad, "Sorry about… what I said. I didn't mean it."

"Then why'd you say it?"

"You're going to think I'm crazy," Kerri said.

"No more crazy than anyone else in this hellhole."

Like he'll believe you.

"Shut it," Kerri muttered. John gave her a weird look.

Kerri sighed, "I've a sarcastic, suicidal weirdo living in my head."

"You're kidding, right?" John said, unimpressed.

Told you so.

"Argh… no, I'm not," Kerri said.

"And how long have you had this problem?"

Problem?

Kerri sighed, "Since my mom died."

John raised his eyebrows.

"When I was little, this fanatical weirdo was my 'imaginary' friend. When I got older, so did she. My dad doesn't believe me, but that's okay. Now she's driving me nuts."

"She?" John asked, then without waiting for an answer, "I think you need some serious help."

Hmm… Better reaction than last time. She just laughed.

"Thanks," Kerri said.

John shrugged.

Kerri sat down on the school steps. She had stayed after school so the nurse could get a physical. So she had to walk home. That was okay, because she didn't live that far away.

Ehh… today was weird.

'You just say that because you're sadistic'

And you don't know what that even means.

'Your point?'

If you want to be shunned from this school for the rest of your life, you can go rescue your little friend now.

"What?" Kerri said aloud.

You heard me.

Kerri got up and began walking out of the school's parking lot. Then she spotted something. She started running towards the other end of the school.

"No!" she cried, "Stop!"

The older boys looked up, pausing in their brutal beating.

John groaned.

"Shut up," one of the boys said, kicking him.

"Stop!" Kerri cried, "Please!"

"Why should we listen to you?" another smirked.

Kerri stepped between the bullies and John.

"I won't let you hurt him!" she said, tears brimming in her eyes.

Bit late for that.

Kerri ignored her, and stood her ground.

"Get out of the way!" the guy that seemed to be the leader said, angrily.

"I'm not going to help you beat up on little girls, man," a younger blond boy said, looking nervous.

"Fine," the leader growled, but added, to John, "You better have it tomorrow."

They left without another word.

That went well.

Kerri knelt beside John, "Are you okay?"

"What do you think?"

That's what I was going to say.

"Come on, the nurse can give you some ice."

"You're kidding, right?"

"Or not," Kerri said, "Since we both have missed the bus, I'll walk with you."

John shrugged, and got to his feet, and said, after a silence, "Why did you do that."

"Do what?"

Talk about clueless.

"You know what I'm talking about," John said, "You can't be that clueless."

"You're starting to sound like my little friend in my head," Kerri said, "But I did it… because my mother told me to."

John's look said, 'What?'

Oh, that sounded cool. Besides, your mum's dead. You told him that.

Kerri frowned and said, "Before she died. She told me… to treat others how we would want to be treated."

"I think I'm turning into a broken record," John said, "You're kidding, right?"

"If that was the last thing your mother ever said to you, wouldn't you listen? Wouldn't you try to do what she wanted?" Kerri asked softly, biting her lip.

There was a silence.

Then John said, "Yes."

"Earth to Kerri... Were you listening?" John asked.

"Huh?" Kerri said.

John rolled his eyes, "I said, I have to go home now. Before my dad gets home. You know that."

"Yeah, sure," Kerri said absently. She'd drifted off again.

"What were you thinking about?" John asked, wiping blood from his lip.

"Seeing you bleeding on the ground reminded me of the day I first came here," Kerri said, plainly.

"That was…" John counted, "Two years ago?"

"Three," Kerri said, starting to walk home.

John ran to catch up, "And you still remember?"

"Yes."

"I see I've rubbed off on you," John said, "One-word sentences."

"And I've rubbed off on you," Kerri poked him, "You actually talk."

John shrugged.

"The strange thing is, I still have my sanity," Kerri said.

"Meaning?"

"Remember that sarcastic, annoying voice in my head?" Kerri asked, "After a few days here, she disappeared… I forgot about her until now."

"I think you made her up," John said.

"No, I didn't!" Kerri said.

"Yeah, you believe in mermaids and faeries, too," John said.

"So?" Kerri asked.

"Forget it," John said, annoyed.

When they reached the road where they had to split up, Kerri watched John walk off alone. She sighed, thinking.

John had changed, that was for sure. But recently, he had started to scare her. He had begun talking about revenge. And he was starting to resist the bullying he still experience, which just got him beat up more. She knew his home situation wasn't any better, in fact, it was probably worse. But she tried not to think about that. Maybe…

Two days. How could so much happen in two days? So much that she was leaving. Forever. And against her will. It felt like the world was spinning too fast around her.

Kerri looked up. She got to her feet as John approached her.

"So you're really leaving?" he asked.

"Yeah," Kerri said, biting her lip, "I don't want to…"

"Of course not," John said, "Who wouldn't want to spend the rest of their life with me?"

"Half of the school, and my dad," Kerri said bluntly.

"You mean all of the school."

Kerri shrugged, "I thought it would all blow over. Even the fire. I mean, you didn't do it…"

"…on purpose," John finished, "I am now officially an arsonist, considering no one believes small children or us. Besides, considering I almost burned down the kindergarten, I think I've gotten off easy."

"But…" Kerri said, holding the tears back, "I don't want to go. My dad, he… he says you're dangerous. He thinks I'm going to get hurt."

John opened his mouth to say something, then closed it. He looked pointedly behind Kerri. She spun around.

"Kerri…" her dad said, sternly.

"I'm sorry, John," Kerri said, looking over her shoulder, tears coming freely now, "I have to go."

She turned and ran over to the car. Her dad followed, not sparing John a glance.

The car pulled out of the driveway, heading towards the airport. They would take a plane back to their old city. Back to their old neighborhood, and their old friends.

John stood there for a long time, watching them leave.

Kerri turned back toward the front of the car and tried to convince herself that he'd be alright.

Confused? Yeah, thought so. Some of it will probably be explained. The rest is just so confusing, I'm not sure I understand it. But review and tell me how stinking un-dramatic that was. So flame! FLAME! FLLAAAAME!!! AHAHAHHAHAHA...ha.